Unexpected Relationships
by Alexi Maree
Summary: Draco saves Ginny's life during the final battle. Why? And how is she going to react to him now.
1. Default Chapter

CHAPTER 1

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. They belong to JKR.

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The war is over and Voldemort has been defeated. He is dead, gone for good, and I am only still alive because of one reason, or make that one person, **Draco Malfoy**. Can you believe it? Malfoy actually saved my life, me a Weasley. But I'll stop there and start from the beginning.

Since Voldemort returned at the end of my third year the world gradually became a darker place. Stories of attacks on Muggleborns and their families became a regular occurrence in the Daily Prophet, but at Hogwarts we were insulated from it, after all Hogwarts was the safest place in the world to be. The attacks were something that you read about but really couldn't comprehend because it hadn't happened to you. So life went on pretty much as normal, but you always had this little thought at the back of your mind 'watch your back', and so we did.

The reality hit me one day and it hit me hard. It was the day I came back from school after Christmas break during my fourth year. A friend of mine Colin Creevey and his little brother Dennis didn't. They were Muggleborn and had been killed by a group of Death Eaters the day before. This was the first but not the last deaths of people close to me. Hermione's parents were killed later that year and since she had no other relatives she came to live with us. This made Ron happy because he loves her; only he still has yet to admit it.

All of a sudden all attacks stopped midway through my fifth year. The naïve and hopeful in this world believed that good had won and that the Death Eaters had given up their terror tactics. The rest of us knew though that it was just a ploy to lull us into a false sense of security before a devastating attack. And it came, yesterday. The day that will go down in history as the Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort and the Death Eaters attacked the school.

The alarm sounded during second period. I was in Transfiguration with McGonagall. By the resigned look on her face it occurred to me that the teachers probably knew that this was a possibility. All the students were sent to the great hall. First to fourth years were sent to the dorms with some seventh ears to protect them. Fifth years and up were expected to go and fight. The scariest thing I have ever seen, and I've seen quite a few, was looking out on the front lawn of Hogwarts and seeing hundreds of black robed wizards advancing, wands raised, to the front doors of Hogwarts. 

We were put into groups and sent outside to fight. Like in all wars there was a lot of casualties on both sides. I don't remember how many curses I threw, but I know that having six older brothers who all taught me how to defend myself, came in handy. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry duelling with Voldemort. I turned to look properly and there was my mistake. I heard an evil laugh and turned toward it and found a Death Eater standing right in front of me with his wand pointed straight at my head. Everything around me faded except for that one death eater and watching him say the words that every witch and wizard fears. AVADA KED then all of a sudden Draco MALFOY knocked me down and out of the way.

We landed on the ground with Draco on top of me, which caused the wind to be knocked out of me. Malfoy looked down at me as to make sure that I was alright then turned, pointed his wand and killed the Death Eater preparing to kill us both, now that he had recovered from missing the first time. He turned and looked at me again. I couldn't read what was in his eyes at the time. Then we heard the words that would make the world rejoice for years to come, Harry yelling Avada Kedavra. We both turned and watched the evil that was once Tom Riddle fall.

Draco turned to me again and smiled, a real smile not one of his trademark smirks, helped me to my feet and turned and walked away.


	2. Plans

CHAPTER 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. JKR does.

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Maybe you're wondering why I find the fact that Draco Malfoy saving my life so surprising. It's because just like the rest of the students at Hogwarts, I thought Draco was a Death Eater just like his father. I mean he acted no different than usual when Voldemort returned. He still spent a large amount of his time making all Gryffindor's as miserable as he possibly could, the Trio especially. I wonder what happened to him to cause him to change sides.

Anyway, summer is nearly over and the first day of school is rapidly approaching. The parts of the school that were ruined during the battle have been rebuilt to their original state but it won't be the same. The student population will be decreased and there will be four new teachers to replace those that were killed during the battle, Flitwick, Sprout, Hagrid and Trelawney. But just my luck (note the sarcasm in that statement), Charlie is taking the Care of Magical Creatures job, **another** brother at school with me. Like overprotective Ron and Harry weren't already intimidating enough to any male who may show an interest. I am never going to have a boyfriend.

But seeing as though I can't do anything about that at the moment, I'll dwell on my other problem. What to do when I see Draco at school? I know I need to thank him for saving my life but I'm a little scared of how he will react. Will he be bastard Malfoy, or the Draco who smiled at me when he helped me to my feet after the battle. While I think I would really like to see smiley Draco I really don't think it's going to happen.

From what I've heard, this summer hasn't been a good one for him. And that may be an understatement. Both his father and his mother were found dead in their Death Eater robes on the lawn of Hogwarts. Even though they were evil, they were his parents and he probably loved them. I couldn't imagine how I would feel if mum and dad died. He now lives with his Aunt who is a mediwitch at St. Mungo's and who, from what I've heard, isn't exactly the maternal type. Let's just say not for a million galleons would I want to be him at the moment.

My family I think is starting to wonder why I'm so interested in what's happening to Draco. I haven't told any of them what happened, but it's not like I'm avoiding the issue or anything, it's just that there is an unspoken agreement between Harry, Hermione, Ron and myself that we don't talk about the details of what we either did, or what was done to us. It's too recent, one day we'll talk about it, but not now. We've tried to spend the summer being the carefree teenagers we should have been if Voldemort had never existed. Even so, when you've spent the last two years looking over your shoulder, it's not as easy to let go, as you would think.

On the happier front it looks to Harry and I that Ron has finally realised what he feels for Hermoine and has spent the last couple of weeks trying to gather the courage to tell her. What he doesn't realise is the she feels the same way. We, Harry and I, have to laugh over their predicament, but we've promised them both separately that we wouldn't interfere. They'll figure it out eventually, at least I hope so.

But to get back to the problem at hand, which I rambled off of, what am I going to say to Draco when I see him. I'll have to get him alone because I don't know whether he'll want other people to know what he did or even whether I want others to know just yet. Okay, here's the plan, I get him alone, say 'thanks for saving my life', make a really quick departure as I don't know how he'll react, and my duty is done. Except for the fact that I now have a bond with him.


	3. First Meetings

CHAPTER 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, JKR does.

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School has been back for a week now. It's been strange in some ways but completely the same in others. I'll start with the welcoming feast. Walking into the great hall inspired the same amount of awe as usual, but it wasn't until we were all sitting waiting for the first years to be bought in by McGonagall that I started looking around and began noticing all the empty seats. It hit me hard then, people whom I used to talk to, or wave to, were no longer sitting in their normal spots. I'd never see them again. It took all I had not to start crying, but I don't think I hid what I was feeling very well cause when I looked up I saw Harry watching me. Looking into his eyes I knew that he was feeling exactly the same way I was.

It's funny how things work sometimes. I spent years crushing on Harry wishing that he would notice me, notice that I wasn't just Ron's little sister. Realising that I no longer felt that way about him was somewhat a relief. It happened the first day that he came to stay at the Burrow the summer after Voldemort returned. He was in a horrible shape because that awful Muggle family of his hadn't been feeding him properly or giving the emotional support he needed after what happened in the third task. I took one look at him and started fussing over him, just like I would have if it had been one of my brothers that looked that bad. It was that night that I realised that whatever feelings I used to have about Harry, all I felt now was the same love that I felt for my brothers. That day I gained my seventh brother. 

Stopping the reminiscing and getting back on the topic at hand, it was the next morning at breakfast when I first noticed Draco. He looked different. Just little things, his hair was no longer slicked back and he actually had a tan like he had been outside over the summer. I decided to get this thank you I needed to say to him out of the way as soon as possible, so when he left the hall after he had finished breakfast I followed him outside. 

On the whole it didn't go well at all. 

"DRACO!" I called to him, I knew he heard me because he stilled for a second then continued walking.

"MALFOY!" I called this time, but yet again he ignored me. At this stage I was starting to get annoyed. I ran to catch up to him, grabbed his arm to get him to stop walking.

"What do you want Weasel?" he answered me impatiently. So I was right, no smiley Draco for this but I decided to forge ahead anyway, wanting it over and done with. I opened my mouth ready to say my prepared speech but he started talking first.

 "Is there any reason why you need to waste my time Weasel, there is nothing you could say that I would ever want to hear." I couldn't believe it. I stood there stunned while he walked away. My thoughts that he had changed had just been proved wrong.

Anyway continuing with my story of the week. That night in the common room gave some comic relief that we all needed. I was sitting on the couch in the common room doing some of the homework the teachers had piled on. It was the first day of school. You'd think they'd give us a break but, alas, no. 

Anyhow the trio entered, the boys loudly complaining about classes. Potions especially. It seems even though Snape has seemed slightly nicer to the rest of the Gryffindors he was still a complete bastard to them. Hermione then starts on her spiel about the NEWTS coming soon so they would have to start studying harder than ever. I find this rather ridiculous. The last two years those three had done so much extra training to prepare them for the war they probably know how to do the majority of the seventh year curriculum already. But that's just my opinion. Back to the story. All of a sudden there is a great laugh from the other side of the room. It was Seamus, he gets up walks over and hands something to Harry asking jokingly if he could get it autographed. Get this, Harry now has his own chocolate frog collector card. This is what it says

            __

'Harry Potter first became famous for defeating the evil wizard Voldemort when he was one year old. In the Battle of Hogwarts he once again battled and defeated, for good, Voldemort with the help of his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.'

As you can imagine, Ron was ecstatic that his name was on the card. Whether he'll still feel that way after Fred and George get through teasing him about it, we'll see.

Of course this being Hogwarts, the incident has spread throughout the school by the next morning. I wasn't there but I heard that Malfoy made some crack about it that got Ron fuming for the rest of the day. Speaking of fuming, I don't know who to be more pissed at, Bill or Professor Wilter the new Charms Professor. Sally Wilter is one of Bill's ex girlfriends that he broke up with a couple of years ago. Problem is she's still bitter and is taking it out on Ron and me. Charms is my favourite subject and she's ruining it for me, but enough of the ranting for now. I had another surprise this week at the prefect meeting.

Hermione and Justin are the Head Boy and Girl this year and they called a prefect meeting mid week to introduce the new prefects. Now just like many Weasley's before me I am the sixth year prefect. When I walked into the prefects meeting room I saw Blaise's replacement (Blaise died in the battle). Guess who? Yep, Draco Malfoy. Now while I was sitting there during the meeting half listening to Hermione hand out the new passwords to the prefects bathrooms I realised I would have to try and talk to Malfoy again. I wish I could just leave it alone but I wont be able to feel better until I say it. 

I came out of my deep thoughts just in time to hear Justin close the meeting and to remind us of the meeting next week. As I stood up to leave my bag split, spilling my things everywhere. I started to pick up my things and notice that **HE** has stayed behind to talk to Justin about something. When I finish I stand up and notice he's on his way to the door and Justin's gone so I decide now's the time.

"Just wait a second. I have something to say to you. It won't take more than ten seconds." He pauses by the door.

"What?" he says in that harsh tone of his.

"I just want to say …" And there she is, Pansy, ready to interrupt me before I get to finish.

"Have you finished yet Draco, remember we have plans?"

"Yeah lets go," he said and walks out with her, not even bothering to let me finish. Oh he is so infuriating.

TBC


	4. Partners

CHAPTER 4

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, JKR does.

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Another week has passed and it has been an interesting one. Being able to say thank you to Draco, finding a way to get back at Professor Wilter and watching Ron get extremely jealous. But I'll start at the start. 

Starting with Ron. Two weeks into the school year and he still hasn't got the courage up to tell Hermione how he feels. Some Gryffindor he is. Even so there has been a spanner thrown in the works. It turns out that someone else is crushing on Hermione as well and Ron is not pleased to say the least. Through the gossip mill (Lavender and Parvati), the tower, minus the oblivious Hermione, found that our Hufflepuff Head Boy likes our dear Hermione and is planning on asking her out on the next Hogsmeade weekend. 

Hermione not understanding Ron's new insistence on insulting Justin all the time started a fight with him. Now neither of them is talking to one another, leaving, of course, Harry and I in the middle as go betweens. Neither of us is enjoying this so we've been trying to think up a plan to get them talking again but we've had no ideas yet. If only I hadn't made that promise to Ron not to tell Hermione how he feels. Oh well.

On the subject of people liking other people, I have a sneaking suspicion that Harry likes someone. Who it is I haven't quite figured out yet. There are a couple of candidates. Now that he doesn't have to worry about Voldemort trying to kill everyone he cares about, he can finally find a girl. That shouldn't be hard. More than half the witches in the school have crushes on him. I mean even I used to.

Now as for my new found plan to get back at Professor Wilter, who by the way has made me start to dread Charms instead of looking forward to it, is integrated with Draco and my little problem with him. 

Seeing as though I knew I would be seeing him at the next prefect meeting I didn't bother to seek him out again until then. So I arrived at the prefect meeting, took the initiative and sat down next to him. I think I shocked him a bit there, but I wasn't going to let him get away again. I was about to say **it** to him when Justin called the meeting to order. This is where things got interesting. 

It had been decided that the students at Hogwarts should do something to raise money for those that had been hurt by the war. A fundraiser if you will. And get this, Draco and I were paired up to think up an idea and organise it. How Justin and Hermione came up the pair of Draco and me, I don't know, but we got the job. 

So Draco and I made reluctant plans to meet one another after classes that day to start discussing ideas. I got there on time but Draco, of course had to stroll in twenty minutes later than the agreed meeting time. I wasn't really surprised, this was Draco we're talking about, but I was determined to get out my thank-you before we started discussing anything else. 

"Draco, I just want to thank you for saving my life. Whether or not you want to hear it, I am grateful and would just like you to know that." There I said it as quickly as possible so that he couldn't stop me. 

He turned and looked at me for a moment with those gorgeous grey eyes of his, nodded his head in acknowledgement of what I said then, "So we have to think of an idea that would make the students willingly give up their money." And that topic of discussion was dropped.

We brainstormed for a while and to my surprise I actually found him to be rather intelligent and funny, whether he was meaning to be funny or not I'm not entirely sure but anyway. Draco's idea of what was a realistic amount of money to expect from the students was very different than mine but finally we came up with a plan. I remembered reading in a Muggle book one day about this Muggle School that wanted to raise money and came up with the idea of Slave For A Day. You auction off students and teachers to other students and teachers to be their 'slave' for a day. This idea had on the plus side that groups of students could pool their money together to make the bids higher. And high they could go if the auctioned person was someone people would pay good money to see acting as a 'slave', for example, Snape. How much would students spend to have him do their bidding for a day without getting in trouble and losing house points? Exactly.

We made a list of candidates of who could be auctioned off and who would make the most money. Snape, though at that time we didn't hold out much hope of that happening, Harry, McGonagall, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Myself, Charlie (for some unknown reason the girls of this school seem to like him), Pavrati, Lavender, Justin, Seamus and my favourite, Wilter. Now all we needed to do was convince them to do it. Now I was surprised that when I said we would both have to be in it since we were prefects I didn't get the adamant no I thought I'd get. He still doesn't like the idea but as I told him he'd make a fortune because of how many people would love to see him as their 'slave'. He actually smiled at me when I said that. 

Now to my immense surprise we managed to get everyone on the list to agree. I don't know how he did it, but Draco actually got Snape to **agree**. My brothers were easy to convince since I have the three of them wrapped around my little finger. Oh the joys of being the youngest and the only girl. Hermione and Justin agreed since they're the Heads and they couldn't not participate. The girls are vain enough to get up there and so is Seamus. McGonagall wasn't enthusiastic at first but I talked her around. And Wilter, since I know she hates me, I made Draco convince her. He did. I'm going to make sure that I have enough money to buy her. I already have all these plans for her, making sure that afterward she won't treat Ron or I unfairly again. But I'll reveal them later. 

So now Draco and I are meeting at least once a day to get this whole thing organised so it can go ahead in three weeks time. We're actually getting along reasonably well considering, but it's only been three days so far. He can convert between nasty Malfoy and intelligent Draco in an instant. I have to be on my guard because if I'm not he'll get in a shot when I'm not expecting it. Ron's a bit concerned about me working with him on this, he still hates and distrusts Malfoy and I still haven't told him why I can't too. 


	5. Laughter

CHAPTER 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, J K Rowling does.

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Five days to go until the Slave For A Day Auction goes ahead and we've got almost everything organised. Almost being the operative word. It's amazing how much organising needed to go into this auction. But you don't really need to know about that. I'll bring you up to date on everything that has happened since I last talked to you.

On the Ron and Hermione front, I think something happened but neither of them is talking. It all started about six days ago. I finally got sick and tired of them refusing to talk to each other, so one night after the rest of the tower went to bed, I was sitting there, listening to Ron whinge when I exploded at him.

"Ron, you idiot. She doesn't have to apologise to you, she didn't do anything, and she doesn't even know why you're angry with her and refuse to speak to her. Not that you actually have anything to actually be angry about because you're too much of a coward to tell her how you feel. If anyone needs to apologise it's you, you git." I stormed off leaving Ron there with a startled look on his face. 

Now I don't lose my temper very often but when I do you want to watch out. Anyway, the next morning at breakfast he sat down next to her. She looked surprised since it was the first time he had sat next to her since their fight. I didn't hear exactly what he said to her, I wasn't close enough to eavesdrop, but Hermione started to cry and started hugging him. Just like usual, he didn't know how to react when she hugs him. He's gonna have to get over that if they actually ever get together. She forgave him. I personally don't think she should have forgiven him so quickly but hey. 

So they started talking again. This only lasted three days. Then something happened. They had both gotten detentions with Snape that night. They were friends when they left the common room but when they got back, something was wrong. It was like they no longer knew how to act around each other so they started to ignore one another and it's been like that since. I asked them both what happened but both are being annoyingly closed lipped about it.

Due to some sneaky spying and eavesdropping on my part, I have figured out whom Harry likes. Her name is Tallah Fitzgerald. She's in my year. Problem is she's a Slytherin. I've never really talked to her before but she struck me as being kind of snobby, but Harry must see something in her. So I decided to strike up a conversation with the girl. Not that Harry knows about this or anything, he still doesn't know I know it's her he likes. 

It was after transfiguration; she was packing up her things so I walked over to her.

"Tallah, I was wondering if you had the homework assignment that Binns gave us. I missed the class." (History of Magic was the other class that we shared.) 

"Why don't you ask your own classmates?" she questioned me, but I was expecting this.

"While I love my fellow Gryffindors, homework is not exactly their top priority and I want to make sure I have the assignment copied down correctly, and I thought my best bet would be to get it from you." She is one of the top students in my year so it wasn't an unusual request.

"Fine." She started looking around her bag for it so I thought dropping some hints to see how she reacts to the mention of Harry.

" I hope it's not too hard or too long otherwise I'll have to ask Harry to help me, seeing as though he should have already done it. That has to be one of the perks of having older brothers at school with me." At the mention of Harry's name her hand stills for a second, but I see it. Apparently Harry's feelings might be reciprocated. 

"What are you talking about? Potter's not you brother," she says.

"Not by blood, true, but he is my brother." She started to look confused.

"I thought you and Potter were together, a couple," she said. I stood there shocked. Harry and I, a couple, where'd she get that idea. So I asked her exactly that.

"Everybody thinks that. You're always together."

"Everybody who?" I asked

"The entire school, I think, or all the Slytherin House for certain." She handed me the assignment while she was saying this.

"Thanks," I muttered and walked away shocked. 

Then I started thinking of some of the things some of the girls in the school have said to me. If they thought I was Harry's girlfriend it makes so much more sense. Then, all of a sudden it just seemed so hilarious. I started laughing and continued laughing all the way to my meeting with Draco.

"What are you laughing about Weasley?" said the blonde that had been on my mind entirely too much lately for my liking.

"You wouldn't believe what I just heard," I paused waiting for a reaction.

"Give me a try then," he asked starting to get annoyed at me. I do this on purpose. The look he gets on his face when he's annoyed is so adorable. Not that I'd ever mention this to him. Don't want to know what type of reaction that would create.

"Get this, apparently the whole school thinks that Harry and I are a couple." After I say this his face becomes blank, the annoyed look gone.

" Aren't you?" he asked me. I looked at him, and he's watching me closely. I don't know why.

"Good God, no. Where did you people even get that idea?" Some emotion passed across his face then but I couldn't tell what it was. It was gone to quickly.

"You two constantly being together tends to give people that impression."

"Harry's like one of my brothers, nothing like that has ever happened and never will." For some reason I just felt I needed to tell him this.

"Anyway Weasley, since your love life doesn't exactly matter to me can we get to work." 

And that was that.

As for the plans for the Auction, we realised that there would be a lot of kids there with money, but only a limited number of people to auction off. We needed something else for them to spend their money on. In come my very generous and favourite twin brothers. They are donating a large amount of their stock to be sold to the students on the day. They lost some of their friends in the war and felt this was a way for them to help. The stock is going to go like hotcakes. Their jokes are a favourite of all the students here. So here's hoping we make a large amount of money on the day.

That night I mentioned to Harry what I learnt about us that day. Not who from because he has Ron syndrome and won't talk to her, I don't think he'd be pleased to learn that I sort-of did on his behalf. Anyway he just looked at me and burst out laughing. I'm glad he had the same reaction I did. Now we just have to think up a way to play this.


	6. The Auction

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, J K Rowling does.

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You know how I told you earlier I didn't know how Draco got Snape to agree. I do now. Draco promised that he would buy him. But things didn't work out like they had planned. It was a night of surprises.

That day I woke up early to get everything ready for the Auction that night. Fred and George arrived at four to get their shop set up. And at six it started. The Great Hall was full. The turn out was better than Draco and I expected. Dumbledore had said that he would be the auctioneer, and I have to admit that he did a great job. The line up for the participants was organised so the most anticipated were last. Therefore Draco and Snape were last.

"Attention everybody, lets get this started," Dumbledore said, and with that the start of a very surprising evening began.

"Seamus, you're up first," I called. He wasn't even up on the stage before the first bid was yelled. For some reason Seamus is one of the most wanted boys in school. I'm not entirely sure why, must be the accent. (A/N: I love Irish accents). Dumbledore barely had to say anything to 'sell' that slave. Within five minutes, Seamus was sold for fifty-two galleons to a group of fifth year Ravenclaw girls. Draco I looked at each other and smiled. That was a lot better than either of us had suspected. 

Poor Lavender, a pimply fifth year boy bought her. She came complaining to me straight after. I told her to think of how the fifty-three galleons were going to help some poor victim of the war. She shut up for a couple of seconds then said, "At least I beat Seamus." That's Lavender for you.

Then came the time I was waiting for, Wilter. Now since I had been writing to Bill every second day since school stated, blaming him for being, well, **male**, he felt guilty and sent me twenty galleons to go toward my buying her. And it came in handy. I had decided I wouldn't make my bid till the end. I had sixty-four galleons to spend. Amazingly there were a lot of students that wanted to buy her, students that actually liked her. Well to each their own. I remember starting to worry when the bidding got to fifty-five and didn't seem to be waning. I must have started looking worried too because Draco noticed. What he did then was the first surprise of the night.

"Haven't got enough money to buy her Weasley?" I looked at him not knowing whether he was about to insult me, or whether he was just making conversation. 

So I answered tentatively, "Not unless the bidding stops soon."

"How much have you got?" Still not sure where this was going, I decided to answer truthfully.

"Sixty-four galleons."

By this time the bid was at sixty-one galleons. I was sure I wasn't going to be able to buy her now. All that planning for nothing. 

"Put in a bid now for seventy-five," Draco whispered to me.

"But I don't …" 

"I'll put in the rest. I don't think I could put up with your sulking the rest of the night if you don't get the chance to put all those plans you've been coming up with to good use."

"How did you know about my plans?"

"If you don't want people to read your notes you should hide your notebook."

"What were you doing reading my …"

"Just put the bid in." So I did.

"Seventy-five galleons." 

"Going once, going twice, sold to Miss Weasley," Dumbledore announced. He looked to me then and winked. The look on Wilter's face when she heard that was almost worth the seventy-five by itself. I was so happy that when I felt I a hand on my arm I turned around and hugged that person. Guess who it was, go on, guess? That's right, it was Draco. And get this, he hugged me back, granted it was only for a couple of seconds, but he did. Then he pulled away, handed me the eleven galleons and walked off, saying nothing. 

I was thinking of following him when Dumbledore called Hermione to the stage. This though, I had to watch. Ron was determined to not let Justin buy her, so he had saved up some money, but like me he hadn't expected the prices to be so high. So when the bidding started, it quickly became a contest between Ron and Justin. The bids went higher and higher, higher than how much I knew Ron had. Then Justin decided to end it.

"One hundred galleons."

I saw Ron look at Harry, but Harry shook his head. They didn't have enough money. So Justin now has Hermione as a slave. Ron was not at all happy. Especially when Justin went up and gave Hermione a hug. Ron has been sulking ever since.

Justin was up next, but that bid was tame. He was sold to Lavender who has a slight crush on the boy, for forty-three galleons.

Next up was McGonagall, deputy headmistress; well you can imagine the response from the student body for her. But in the end, for a huge one hundred and twenty-two galleons, Harry, Ron and Seamus bought her. Since they hadn't spent their money on Hermione, they had to buy someone. I cringe to think of what they'll make her do.

Now it was brother number one, Ron, to get up on stage. Once again I was surprised at what the girls in this school think of as attractive, because if the frenzied bidding on Ron was any indication, he's a heartthrob. Would you believe it, Ron made us one hundred and five galleons. Ron. Oh well, the girl that bought him, Brenda, a sixth year from Hufflepuff, decided to fawn over him for the rest of the night. Our Hermione was not happy. I heard her mutter under her breath something like 'if she doesn't keep her hands off him, I'm gonna hex her into next week'. She's a bit possessive our Hermione.

Parvati was sold to some lower class men from Slytherin that I don't know, for fifty-two galleons. To a certain extent I pity the girl, she'll have to listen to Lavender boast about getting more money then her, even if it was just a galleon.

Brother number two, Charlie was up now. But I already knew who was going to get him. Padma and Parvati were planning to buy him. Padma really likes him, and I think he likes her too, but he won't do or say anything until she finishes school. Eighty-one galleons later the twins walked away with a slave.

Brother number three, Harry, the-boy-who-lived, walked up on stage with a look of trepidation on his face. Get this, the bidding started at sixty galleons. Started at. Ended at an even two hundred. Bought by Tallah. You know the girl Harry likes. It looks like I was right in the assumption the she likes him too. Or it could be a Slytherin thing, you know getting Potter to do their dirty work. We'll have to wait and see.

The only thing about the auction I was not looking forward to, my turn was next. And here was another surprise for the evening. I really wasn't expecting to make much money. I was up there only because I was a prefect and because I organised it. I figured one of my brothers would buy me. Boy was I wrong. People actually bid on me, a lot of people, a lot of **males**. The bidding got up to ninety galleons when it happened.

"One hundred and twenty galleons." I looked around trying to find who put that bid in, but I couldn't find him.

"Going once, going twice, sold to Draco Malfoy."

Draco Malfoy bought me. I still don't believe it. Why would he buy me? I met his eyes then and a shiver ran down my back, then he looked away. Well that should make things interesting. Ron's reaction to my new 'master' is like you'd expect. Fury. But there was nothing he could do. I was 'bought and paid for'. But as I don't really want to think about what Draco's going to make me do I'll move onto his turn.

Draco Malfoy, bad boy, king of Slytherin, at your beck and call for a day, now who could resist that. Listening to the bidding, not a lot. I think at that juncture Harry and Ron were regretting spending all their money on McGonagall. At one hundred and ninety-five galleons the bidding stopped. When I heard who made the last bid I had to laugh. After spending a fair amount of time with him over the last three weeks, I had listened to him complain about his new 'master'. He sent me a glare when he heard me laugh, but I just kept laughing. Pansy Parkinson just bought one Draco Malfoy. You see Pansy has plans to become the next Mrs. Malfoy but Draco can't stand her, she won't leave him alone, she follows him everywhere, just like a little puppy dog. So that should be fun to watch.

Last but not least, Snape. Listening to the students over the last couple of weeks has told me that there were a lot of groups that were vying for this prize. I called him up to the stage and he shot me a glare, and then very reluctantly stomped up to the stage. When he got up there he put on his scariest scowl, as if that was going to deter the students. The bidding began, climbing rapidly. At this time I decided to go and talk to Draco to see how much we've made so far.

"Malfoy, have you counted up how much we've made so far?" I call him Malfoy to his face, Draco in my mind. Don't know why, it just is.

"Not yet." He looks around distracted.

"Gee Draco, I wonder what Parkinson's gonna make you do." I don't like when people don't give me their full attention when I'm talking to them so I thought I'd make him pay attention. It worked.

"I think you'd be better off wondering what I'm going to make you do."

"Rather not, I know it's going to be horrible. So thanks for lending me that money I'll pay you back." At least I had his attention. Why is it I continually have to thank him?

"Whatever Weasley, it's not like I'll miss it."

Then something bizarre happened to me. I don't understand why I did it, but I can't take it back.

"Well thanks anyway. I couldn't have bought her without you." Then I reached up and kissed him on the cheek. I could have understood me doing it if it was a friend or family, but Draco? As I started to pull away he grabbed my waist and looked into my eyes. We stayed like that for I don't know how long, could have been a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes. Then I heard it.

"Sold to Neville Longbottom." I smiled at Draco.

 "Looks like Neville just bought Snape," I said. That seemed to snap him out of it.

"Oh shit." He let me go and turned to watch. 

"What's wrong?"

"Snape's gonna kill me."

"Why?"

"The only way I could convince him to do this was by promising that I would buy him."

"And now Neville's bought him, hmm," I said, trying hard not to laugh but not succeeding, "You are in so much trouble."

"Thank you very much. Shit, he's heading this way. I'm leaving. I'll meet you in the morning to count everything up." He then runs from the hall. I thought nothing could scare Draco Malfoy but obviously I was wrong. A very angry Severus Snape scares him.

Neville paid two hundred and fifty galleons for Snape. I asked him why he bought him since he scares him so much. He answered that he figures that Snape can't treat him worse than he already does. I'm personally not too sure of that but I didn't say that to him.

The next morning Draco and I met to count the takings. We made **one thousand four hundred and forty eight galleons** from the slave trade and an additional **one thousand two hundred galleons** from Fred and George's store. The night was a total success. While we were counting we didn't mention what happened between us the night before, but I've been thinking about it, and about him. 


	7. Revenge

CHAPTER 7

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

***************************

Now I bet you want to know what all the slave duties were, right? I'll tell you what I saw or heard. Keep in mind that all the slaves didn't do their duties on the same day. Some still haven't been done.

I'll start with Wilter, my main reason for choosing to do a slave auction in the first place. I told her to meet me in front of the Great Hall before breakfast at seven o'clock precisely, in the outfit I had given to her in a bag. Then I decided to piss her off and not turn up until a quarter to eight. As expected, the look fury on her face when I strolled up forty-five minutes late was priceless. There she was, standing by the doors, waiting for me in her Muggle maids uniform, you know those short black ones with the frilly white aprons. 

Wilter was the first slave that the students had seen in action, so they were watching very closely, the boys especially (short skirt, tight bodice).  So for breakfast I made her serve me. Telling her to get me a plate this then changing my mind. Watching her glare get more ferocious every time I did it and just smiling in response. Now normally I don't like being the centre of attention but I really enjoyed that. Even some of the Slytherins were laughing. But the best part of it was when I looked up and saw Snape watching Neville laughing at Wilter. I swear he looked green, guess he wasn't looking forward to his turn. 

After breakfast I told Wilter I'd meet her in the Charms room in an hour for her next task. She just glared and walked away. So being in the really happy mood I was at that moment, seeing a couple having a picnic breakfast in the garden then realising who the couple was caused me to break out in hysterics. I don't know how, seeing as though I was inside, behind glass, but Draco must have heard me because he turned around met my eyes and glared. All this did was make me laugh harder. How times have changed. Had he glared at me like that last year I would have cowered in fear, now I laugh. Now I know he's not the evil bastard everyone thinks he is. Pansy though doesn't like his attention being away from her, so she made him face her again and I walked away.

Now for my meeting with Wilter, Harry and Ron were joining me for this one. I knew that making her do embarrassing things all day in front of the student body was not going to make her be nice to me for the rest of the year, so I had a plan up my sleeve.

"Now I have a proposition for you," I started, "I have a list here of all the things I want you to do today, and you **will** have to do them, don't get me wrong, the catch is whether you will have to do them in front of the entire school, or just in front of us three."

"What's the catch," she asked warily. I don't blame her for being wary; the smile on Ron's face would have made me wary too.

"I don't like the way you treat Ron and I in classes, just because Bill is our brother. It's not fair, and you just really need to get over it. The catch is if you perform for just the three of us, you will be taped. The student body will only view this tape if Ron or I feel that you are acting unfairly to us throughout the rest of the year." 

"What are the things I have to do?" she asked. I hand her the list. She reads it and hands it back.

"Deal."

And the bargain was struck. That night I remember thinking that I have never laughed as much in one day as I did that day. And I used to live with Fred and George. Now I won't tell you exactly what we made her do, because I made a deal, but if she breaks her side, you'll be the first to know. But just as a hint it included dancing, singing and magic.

I only saw Draco once more during that day, Pansy hanging all over him. I wish that someone else had bought him. That way we could have seen him embarrassed or humiliated. I've never seen him show either of those emotions. Pansy wasn't about to piss Draco off that much. She was too interested in getting into his pants.

I'll just highlight some other of the slave's duties for you. Lavender had to get up during dinner and sing some Muggle love song to her 'master' you know the pimply fifth year. I think it was called 'I Will Always Love You'. Just so you know Lav is tone deaf. I swear I heard the werewolves in the dark forest howling along with her. 

The Slytherin boys that bought Parvati took the word 'slave' literally. They made her do their cleaning, cooking and homework. Poor girl, but to make sure they didn't go to far (bunch of hormonal boys and very pretty girl), Seamus was with her the entire time. 

Seamus though had to dress up in, wait, what did Harry and Hermione call it, oh yes, drag. Women's clothing, jewellery, makeup and wig, you should have seen it. Seamus in a sundress is a sight to behold. I must admit Seamus has a really nice body, we have of course photo's to remember it by. 

McGonagall though she was going to get out of the slave duties pretty easily, when all the boys wanted for the first part of the day was for her to give them lessons on how to become Animagus. Harry and Ron were determined to try to become one and Seamus just tagged along. But then, in the second half of the day, it got entertaining. 

You know how McGonagall loves Quidditch; well they decided to see how handy she was on a broom. They gave her a set of Gryffindor Quidditch robes and a broom and challenged her to a game of two on two Quidditch, McGonagall and Harry versus Ron and Seamus. Of course this challenge wasn't a secret so the students all came out to watch. For an old girl she can fly pretty damn well and she and Harry won, much to Ron's disgust. When she landed she was laughing so hard she was nearly crying. For the first time in three years she didn't have that strained, weary look on her face, the one the war had given her. She looked happy.

Earlier tonight it was Justin's turn. Lavender decided that she would make Justin break some rules. I knew she was planning something but it wasn't until Justin flung the first spoonful of mashed potatoes at Hermione, that I realised what she had planned.

FOOD FIGHT. 

Ron got so angry with Justin for flinging the potatoes at Hermione that he picked up his mashed potatoes and flung it back at him, hitting him squarely in the face. Then everyone started. I was going to stay out of it until I saw Draco sitting there without a spot of food on him, sure that no one would dare pelt him with food. I had to take that look off his face. I just had to. So I grabbed a pitcher of pumpkin juice and snuck around behind him, getting pelted with food the entire way. Once I was behind him I poured the entire pitcher over his head. Very slowly he turned to look at me, rivers of orange running down his face.

"Weasley."

"Malfoy," I answered back.

"You're going to regret that."

"I truly don't think there is anything in this world that would make me regret doing that," I said smiling. And I still don't think there is. 

I stared into his eyes then, I seem to have a habit of doing that a lot lately, but in my defence, he has really pretty eyes. He moved closer, so close that I could feel his breath on face. But during this staring match I didn't notice what he was doing with his hands. When he bought his hands up, I was so sure that he was going to kiss me, and I wanted him to. At that moment, I really wanted Draco Malfoy to kiss me. But no, when I was about to close my eyes, he bought his hands to my face and smeared food all over my face and neck. Then he started laughing, not loudly, just loud enough so that I could hear him. A real laugh, one that reached his eyes.

"Looking good Weasley," he said, then turned to the exit and started to walk away. But I wasn't about to let him get away with that.

I grabbed a handful of food off the Slytherin table, grabbed the back of his robes and poured it down his back, patting his back to make sure he was smeared with it. He turned, grabbed my arm, and yanked me to the exit.

"You don't know when to give up do you," he growled at me. Pulling me along the corridor. 

"You knew I couldn't let you win, it just not in my genes. In case you've forgotten I have seven brothers. I had to learn to stick up for myself," I answered him back.

"Seven, I thought you only had six brothers?" he questioned me.

"Harry makes seven." 

He finally stopped and led me into a room, then turned to me.

"What did you drag me in here for, we're missing out on the fun," I said.

"That wasn't my idea of fun."

"Sure it was, you laughed, I heard you," I said still trying to figure out why we were here.

"Do you always have an answer for everything?"

"Not always. I have a question though." I decided I'd just ask him why we were here.

"What?" he replied.

 "Why are we here?"

He never did answer me. He just looked at me, grabbed me by the waist, yanked me to him, and kissed me. This time he actually kissed me. And I kissed him back. I don't know how long we stood there kissing. It wasn't until we heard laughter go past that we broke apart. We stood there looking at each other, neither of us knowing what to say. 

"Um, well, I'm gonna go have a shower and wash all this food off me, I'll see you tomorrow, sometime, probably. Ok, see ya," I said quickly, and left the room as fast as I could without actually running.

I kissed Draco Malfoy, and I liked it, a lot. I've kissed a couple of boys before but I've never had a reaction like this before. I wanted more. But it's late and I don't want to dwell or I'll never get to sleep. 

The rest of the 'slaves' have to do their duties in the next couple of days. I have to do my duties in a couple of days. Wonder what he has in store.


	8. Author's Note

Hi everybody.  
  
I'm a bit stuck. I can't think of very many things for Draco to make Ginny do for her slave duties. If any of you can think of anything, please send a review and tell me.  
  
Thanks  
  
Alexi Maree 


	9. More Slave Duties

CHAPTER 8

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They are J. K. Rowlings.

*******************

Since I last updated you on what was happening at Hogwarts, Snape, Ron, Charlie and Hermione have done their duties. At one point during this week, I was laughing so hard that I was crying. The school really needed this. They always say that laughter is the best medicine.

Neville finally got Snape back for the abuse that he had received over the years. It's been known since Neville's third year that Snape was his greatest fear. This was discovered when a boggart he faced turned into Snape. What banished the boggart was imagining him in his grandmothers green dress and hat, the one with a stuffed vulture on the top. 

Guess who borrowed his grandmothers' favourite dress and hat. Snape's face when Neville handed him the outfit was indescribable. Of course Snape tried to refuse to wear it, but Dumbledore got on his case and told him he had to. The look of pure venom that he shot at Draco then, would have made a lesser man run for dear life. Draco just cringed. And I just laughed. Then Snape glared at me, Draco must have told him that I was the one that distracted him, because it isn't the first time that he's glared at me over the last two weeks.

Seeing Snape walk around in that dress all day was something that the student body will always be thankful to Neville for. Watching Snape teach potions in that dress will be imprinted on my memory for the rest of my life and something I will always be grateful to Neville for. And if I do forget, I have pictures. But on with the rest of his duties. Next was making him wear a Gryffindor scarf and cheer Harry and the rest of the team on in their Quidditch match. Even the teachers couldn't stop laughing when they saw and heard this. I think that was the first and only time Harry will ever hear compliments about him come out of Snape's mouth. 

The rest of his duties were quiet activities that I know about only because I'm a friend of Neville's. You see Neville was very close to failing Potions, due partly to Snape's abuse and partly due to his inability to understand a lot of the course. So he came up with a plan. Snape had to tutor him in Potions for the day. Catch was, that Snape had to test all the potions that he, Neville made, so therefore it was in Snape's best interests that he make sure Neville actually understood what he was doing and therefore wouldn't poison him. It worked too. Neville told me that by the end of the day he actually understood the fundamentals of potion making and he may now even pass the subject.

On the Charlie front, nobody really knows what he had to do, because he isn't telling and neither is Padma. Even Parvati doesn't know much. Or if she does she has actually managed to keep her mouth shut about it, which if you knew her, would be really surprising.

Now for the Ron and Hermione situation. For their slave duties both got off really easily if you ask me. All Brenda made Ron do was to tell the whole school that she was the most beautiful girl, blah blah blah. Sickening really, but the hanging all over him part did not make Hermione happy. As for Hermione's duties, I mean was Justin really going to make Hermione do anything really bad. I don't think so. All he made her do was to carry his books, do his homework, so on and so forth, boring stuff. Then again Justin's a boring guy, so it suited. But his actions led to one good thing. Hermione finally realised that Justin likes her. She came to me when she found out.

"Ginny," she said 

"Hermione," I answered, I was trying to study at the time and wasn't happy at the disruption.

" I think I have a problem. I think Justin likes me."

"Yeah, he does."

"You knew," she exclaimed to me.

"The whole tower knows Hermione, possibly the whole school."

"Why didn't you tell me, any of you?"

I thought I thought I would make one more last attempt to get her and Ron to face their feelings.

"We assumed you knew," this was a blatant lie but anyway, "and were using it to make Ron jealous, which by the way, it did. I mean why else would Ron try to beat out Justin to buy you." There, hints dropped. She better pick them up.

"Was he really jealous?" There we go, success.

"Just think of his reactions over the past few months and make up your own mind."

After that she just sat there for about an hour staring off into space, then suddenly ran off somewhere. Later I found out that that somewhere was to find Ron and finally have it out with him. What I would have given to be a fly on the wall for that argument. They must have reached an understanding because when they got back because they were friends again, just friends. I give up. I do. 

Speaking of Ron, I had an argument with him the day before my slave day. He doesn't trust Draco and wanted someone to accompany me to all my duties, like Seamus did with Parvati. I really didn't like this idea. So we fought and I told him the truth.

" I'm not letting you go alone," Ron stated, like because he said so, that's it, no more to be said on the subject. Yeah right.

"I'm a big girl Ron, I can look after myself."

"I don't trust Malfoy, so you're not going alone."

"He wont hurt me, Ron."

"He's Malfoy, of course he will," Ron states like that explains everything. I started to get angry. 

"Ron if he wanted to hurt me, he wouldn't have saved my life."

There was silence then. 

"What are you talking about Ginny," this was from Harry who was also in the room.

So I told them.

"In the battle last year, I lost my focus for a moment, when I turned back around, there was a Death Eater with his wand pointed at my head. He started saying the killing curse when Draco knocked me out of the way, and the curse missed me. Then he killed the Death Eater." 

"Why?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know. He refuses to talk about it. I've tried a couple of times. He just changes the subject."

"Why didn't you tell us before now." This was from Ron who was much more subdued.

"Because nobody wants to remember Ron, the same reason none of you talk about Hagrid. It brings back bad memories."

"If he hurts you in any way during your duties, promise me you'll tell me." Ron finally says.

"He won't hurt me."

"Promise me." Overprotective brothers. What can you do?

"I promise."

So there it was, I was off to do my duties alone tomorrow, alone with Draco. I wonder whether it was a good idea or not to have talked Ron out of a 'bodyguard'. I still remembered what happened last time Draco and I were alone together. I can't forget. It just keeps playing over and over in my head. That kiss, and I wonder why he did it. And I wonder why, I so very much, want him to do it again tomorrow. 


	10. Denial

CHAPTER 9

Disclaimer: These characters belong to JKR, not me.

******************

He made a move. Harry Potter finally made a move on Tallah. Of course it was directly after her making a fool of him for the entire day. But I think having a girl not fawn all over him may be part of the attraction. 

Poor Harry, but I suppose turn about is fair. Snape had to cheer for Gryffindor so it's only fair that Harry should cheer for Slytherin. I will never forget him yelling, **'Go Malfoy. Go Malfoy. Catch the Snitch. Catch the Snitch. You're the Best. You're the Best. So Beat the Rest. So Beat the Rest.'** Of course he had to chant this while waving pom-poms in the air.  

Slytherin went on to win that match and have a party in their common room, a party that Harry had to clean up after. Which would have been fine if he had been able to use magic, which he wasn't, or if the Slytherin's hadn't made even more mess every time he had nearly finished, or if he hadn't had to wear his Gryffindor Quidditch robes to clean in. 

It was nearly midnight that night, when he made his move. I know because I saw it. I was coming back from the kitchens, when I came across them, and like little sisters everywhere I decided to spy on them, and find out material to tease him with later. 

They were talking about something, I couldn't exactly hear what, but Harry was getting agitated with her, and then all of a sudden he turned and kissed her. It lasted fifty-four seconds. I know I timed it, and then he stopped and walked away, leaving Tallah standing there by herself. She stood there looking so shocked for a couple of minutes but when I was about to go talk to her, she shook herself out of it and walked away.

So there you have it. Harry's finally got some action. He deserves to be happy; he hasn't had nearly enough happiness in his life.

But I suppose you're wondering what Draco made me do for my turn. Surprisingly enough the duties weren't too bad. They could have been worse.

As my luck would have it, my slave day was on the day of the Hogsmeade trip, even more people to humiliate myself in front of. Even while I was dreading the day in some ways in others I couldn't wait.

It started with me having to meet Draco in front of the Great Hall before breakfast.

"Looking forward to today Weasley?" was the first thing he said to me.

"With great anticipation," I answered back sarcastically. "What do I have to do first?"

"We'll start off easy, you don't have to do much at all, just sit next to me at the Slytherin table and serve me breakfast. I want to watch the warning looks your brother will keep shooting me." 

Oh yes, annoying Ron was a great way to start the day. Can you tell I was being sarcastic? But it worked. Ron reacted exactly the way Draco expected even though I told him I'd be fine. Now sitting at the Slytherin table was not what I'd call fun. Having Pansy throwing killer glances at me for having the nerve to sit next to 'her' man was enough to put me off my food. While I trust Draco, I do not by any means trust Pansy.

And so we headed off to Hogsmeade, where Draco decided to make me a packhorse. The boy can shop let me tell you. Must come from growing up with more money than you can spend. The amount of useless things he bought amazed me. There was one thing he bought though that was really nice. It was a necklace with an oval pendant on it. What was so special about it was that it was a mood pendant so that it changes colour depending on the wearers' mood. There is not a colour on the earth that these mood pendants cannot make. They are really pretty. I just really hope that he didn't buy that for Pansy or I'm going to throw up.

By the time lunch came around, my arms were aching from the amount of stuff I was carrying around and he wouldn't let me use magic to make them lighter. We headed to the Three Broomsticks where he told me I'd have to do something but he wouldn't tell me what until we got there.

"Attention everyone, for you're entertainment this afternoon, Miss Virginia Weasley has kindly offered to sing you all a song," he announced while smirking at me. I glared at him; I couldn't believe he would do that.

The bastard, I remember, when we were planning this Slave Auction, mentioning to him about hating being the centre of attention and public speaking, because I get nervous and start making mistakes. So what's he do, he makes me get up in front of a very large group of people and sing.

The music started playing and he made me get up on one of the tables. I think I shocked him and a lot of the crowd when I started singing, because while I don't like doing it in public, I am a very good singer. I made it easier on myself by keeping my eyes shut the whole time, trying to pretend I was by myself. It helped a bit.

After that impromptu performance we sat down to have lunch, when Pansy decided to make her presence felt. We were sitting by ourselves at a table talking, having a proper conversation. Not about personal stuff, because he shies away if my questions get too personal, but about everything else, Quidditch, politics, school gossip and so on. And over comes Pansy. You know she never used to irritate me this much, but now whenever her I see her I feel like punching her.

"Leave Weasel. I want to talk to Draco alone," she barked at me. I did not appreciate being talked to that way.

"Sorry, Draco is my master today, I only do what he tells me, not what some jealous fan of his says." She didn't like that whatsoever.

"Just leave bitch."

"What do you want Pansy, you're interrupting my lunch?" Draco finally asked.

"I want to talk to you alone," she said while licking her lips in a way that I think was supposed to be sexy, but just didn't work. Then she slid in next to him, just about on his lap.

"Go away," he said. 

"See, Weasel, leave," she said with a superior smirk on her face. 

"Not her, you Pansy," he yelled.

She wouldn't move so he slid out of the booth with her on his lap and dropped her on the floor, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of there. While that was a sight I wasn't going to forget anytime soon, Draco was in a bad mood for the rest of the afternoon, snapping at me all the time, making me do stupid things, which put me in a bad mood. Damn Pansy.

All day I kept waiting for him to bring up what happened between us the other night, to tell me why he kissed me, but he didn't, so after dinner that night I decided I would ask him. We were in the potions classroom because he had some homework to do he wanted help with.

"Draco?" I said. He looked at me with a funny look on his face.

"What?" I enquired wondering what that look meant.

"You called me Draco," he said

"I suppose I did. It is your name."

"Anyway, what did you want?" he asked going back to the subject at hand.

"Why did you kiss me, you know, the other night." I wondered whether he was going to answer me.

"What are you talking about?" he said. I couldn't believe it.

"You do remember kissing me right, after the food fight the other night."

"I don't recall, no." Now I was angry, and maybe a little hurt.

"Well maybe this will jog your memory." So I kissed him, passionately.  I, Ginny Weasley, kissed him. We kissed like we couldn't get enough of each other. Then he stopped. We broke apart, both of us breathing heavily.

"Now I remember," he said smiling down at me, letting me in on the joke. Then he pulled me to him and started kissing me again and a bit more than kissing. His hands found their way under my shirt, trailing his fingers up my belly, around to my back and to my bra clasp.

While I would never have let another boy do that, that early in a relationship, if what Draco and I are doing can even be classed as a relationship, I wanted Draco's hands on me. Stroking me. 

He undid my bra and slid his hands around to cup my breasts. Then things all went to hell. All of a sudden I was yanked away from Draco and the next thing I saw was Ron punching Draco and warning him to stay away from me or else. Then Ron grabbed my arm and dragged me all the way to Gryffindor tower.

"I can't believe you just did that," I yelled at him, fuming.

"He had his hands…" I cut him off.

"I know where he had his hands Ron, and if I hadn't wanted them there they wouldn't have been there."

"He must have put a spell on you, we'll have to go tell Dumbledore."

"There is no spell on me Ron. I like him. Sometimes I don't exactly even know why, I just know I do. And I think he might like me too. I might know by now if you hadn't come charging in on us. Just except it. Please. I don't want to listen to you go on about this anymore." By this time I was really tired so I just left Ron in the common room and headed up to bed.

It's morning now, just about time for breakfast. I wonder what today will bring.


	11. Realisations

CHAPTER 10

Disclaimer: These characters were not created by me. They were created by the lovely JKR.

*************************

Well today has been full of many things to know and tell and not all good. It started before breakfast with Ron and I.

Ron's inability to keep a secret from Harry and Hermione meant that as soon as I woke this morning, I was dragged into a meeting (intervention) with them. Their feelings about a relationship between Draco and myself were made very clear. They are totally against it. Now because of my inability to stop thinking about Draco last night, I got very little sleep, and a Ginny who gets very little sleep tends to get very grumpy. So when they decided to tell me their views on my love life, I didn't react very well. In fact their ears are possibly still ringing. Serves them right, they have no right to say anything about my love life when they can't even sort out their own.

During my sleepless night I came to the conclusion that I had to find Draco, so that we could sit down and talk. I needed to know what he was thinking. Whether or not he felt any of the same things I do. I didn't expect a declaration of love, but I had to know whether he actually liked me as a person or whether it's just tawdry teen lust. 

So after the intervention I went down to breakfast and waited for him to turn up but he never did. Nor did he turn up for lunch. So after that I decided to look for him. I didn't find him straight away but I found some interesting things along the way. 

I was looking out on the ground when I came across Charlie. I was about to go talk to him when I noticed he wasn't alone. I don't know how I missed her in the first place because she was sitting so close to him she was just about on his lap. I thought about interrupting them but then figured since I wasn't actually angry with Charlie I wouldn't ruin his Sunday with his girl. Now, if it had been Ron or Harry on the other hand.

The next interesting thing I saw on my journey was Lavender kissing a boy. Now you ask why was this interesting, it's not like it's a rare sight or anything, but it is when the boy in question is none other that Justin. She finally got her claws in him. I guess Hermione can stop worrying now. It really looked like he was over her.

After trudging around the castle for two hours I decided to ask someone where he was. That someone happened to be Snape. 

"Professor. I was wondering if you know where Draco is at the moment. I need to speak with him about some prefect business." Well I wasn't about to tell him the truth was I?

"While I highly doubt that prefect business is what you'll be talking about when you find him, he's in the potions classroom, finishing homework he didn't finish last night for some reason. I don't suppose you'd know anything about that would you," he told me and I had the funniest feeling he knew exactly what happened last night. And that thought he knew that left me feeling very weird indeed.

So down to the dungeons I went, getting more nervous the closer I got. When I got to the door I heard his voice, he was talking to someone else. I was about to walk away and come back later because I didn't want anyone interfering this time, but I heard a female voice answer him back. I decided to see who was with him so I poked my head around the corner. And there he was, Draco, standing there, kissing another girl, and not just any girl, Tallah, Harry's crush.

I stood there watching them for a couple of seconds, not really believing my eyes, but the scene never changed. He was still kissing her and she was kissing him back. I turned and ran. Realising that for him all that was between us was just teen lust. But for me it wasn't, I had to do the stupidest thing in the world. I fell for him. 

I didn't know that love could hurt this much. The vision of them together keeps running through my head. As much as I hate to say it, I should have listened to Ron. **He's a Malfoy**, of course he was going to hurt me.

*****************************

Author's Note: Sorry about the shortness of the chapter and the delay getting it out. The next one will be longer. Please review.


	12. Authors Note

Sorry about the delay folks.  
  
My sister has been visiting for a couple of weeks so I haven't gotten around to writing the next chapter.  
  
It will be up in the next couple of days.  
  
Bye  
  
Alexi Maree 


	13. Explainations

CHAPTER 11  
  
Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. ****************  
  
Seeing as though I have a whole heap of older brothers, I know what they can be like when it comes to females, they lie. Look at Bill and Wilter for example. He had to have done something to get her that pissed off. So should I believe HIM? I don't really know.  
  
The next morning after the scene in the dungeons, at breakfast Hermione noticed that I wasn't my usual cheery self so she cornered me as soon as I left the hall and took me into an abandoned classroom. She asked me what was wrong and I couldn't help myself, I burst out crying.  
  
"What did he do?" she asked after I'd finished my outburst.  
  
"How did you know I was crying because of him?" I asked her.  
  
"You think I haven't spent time crying over Ron. I know the signs."  
  
I had to talk to someone about what I'd seen. And Hermione was the closest thing to a sister I have so I told her everything.  
  
" Please don't say I told you so. I don't need to hear it right now." I pleaded with her.  
  
" I wasn't going to. I blame myself."  
  
"Why on Earth would you do that?" I asked shocked. Why would she blame herself?  
  
"Because I assigned the fundraiser to you and him. If you hadn't worked together, this wouldn't have happened."  
  
"Why did you put the two of us together anyway? It made no sense then and even less sense now." I asked. Not that I blamed her like she obviously blamed herself. It was all my doing.  
  
"I thought you'd be the only person that he could work with," she said.  
  
"How did you come to that conclusion? I'm a Weasley. He's a Malfoy. Our families have been feuding for decades."  
  
"There were a couple of reasons. First and foremost was you're temper. You would let him get away with shit, which a lot of the other prefects would have."  
  
"And?" I asked wanting to know her other reasons. She looked hesitant to tell me the rest.  
  
"Over the last couple of years I've been noticing his actions toward you," she starts off slowly, "And I'd noticed that he never really bothered you."  
  
"Yes he did." I exclaimed at her, not understanding what she was talking about.  
  
"For who you are Ginny, and all the things he could have done to you and didn't, you got off very lightly. Compare the number of run-ins you had with him, to the other Gryffindors in your grade and mine. That's why I put you together. I thought he had a soft spot for you and I still think I'm right. Think about it."  
  
After saying all this she left the room and me to my thoughts. Remembering I realised that she had a point, he did seem to leave me alone compared to others. But the soft spot part of her statement I don't believe. I think it probably has more to do with the fact that because I used to be so quiet, he just kept forgetting I was there to torment.  
  
I decided to leave this line of thought and started to think of something else she said. Ron made her cry. I know how I felt having my heart stomped on so thinking of how Hermione must feel every time Ron acts like the stupid git he is, just got me really angry. So I decided to find him and yell at him. Which I did.  
  
It was only after I had finished ranting at him that I realised that I had just told him that Hermione loves him. I couldn't believe I just did that. Hermione trusted me to keep that secret. She's never going to talk to me again. Ron just stood there looking shocked.  
  
"She loves me?" I nodded. I might as well, it's not like I can take it back now.  
  
"I have to go now," he said then left me. I haven't seen either of them since. I hope they finally worked it out. They deserve to be happy.  
  
After the spat I had at Ron, I was wandering around the castle when he found me. I was rounding the corner when I literally bumped into him.  
  
"Ginny."  
  
"Draco." I answered back.  
  
I really didn't feel like seeing him at that moment. I wasn't really sure I ever wanted to see him again at all. I started to walk past when he grabbed my arm. I shook him off.  
  
"What's up? Snape said you were looking for me, prefect stuff or something."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I figured it out myself." I said in my iciest voice, and then started walking off.  
  
"What has big brother forbidden you to speak to me or something?"  
  
"Actually he did, but since I have never listened to any of my brothers when they forbid me to do anything, why would I start now." I answered back, getting angry. If knew that I was looking for him last night he must know why I don't feel like talking to him.  
  
"Then why are you brushing me off?" Obviously not.  
  
"Look, I thought we started something, I wasn't entirely sure what exactly, but something. I felt something and stupid me, I thought you felt something too. Now I was very obviously wrong, since I saw you snogging Tallah last night. Now if you don't mind, leave me the fuck alone so I can get over you, which if I start right now, shouldn't take me too long." Since I was still in a bad mood from Ron, I just snapped and this all just spilled out. After I was finished I just turned and walked away and as soon as I was out of his site, I ran to the dormitories.  
  
I spent the rest of the day crying. Harry found me and realised Draco did something and offered to go beat him up. I was tempted but I didn't want him getting into trouble because of me. Then the package came. I didn't know what it was at first; the owl was unfamiliar to me. I opened it and there was the mood pendant that Draco had bought when I was with him in Hogsmeade. On top of it was a letter addressed with just my name.  
  
Dear Ginny,  
  
First of all, I had originally planned to give you the pendant on your birthday next month but decided that it was needed more now.  
  
You were right in you original thoughts, that I felt something for you too. I do. I have for a while. But it's complicated.  
  
What you saw last night in the dungeons isn't what you think. Yes we were kissing but not for the reasons you think. It was a kind of experiment. You see we were both bemoaning the fact that we had to fall for Gryffindors of all people and why couldn't we fall for each other instead.  
  
It didn't work because kissing her I felt nothing, whereas when I'm kissing you I never want to stop.  
  
Can you meet me somewhere so we can talk?  
  
Draco Malfoy  
  
There it is. I don't know whether to believe him or not. If I believe him and I find out it was a lie, I think it would literally break my heart and I don't know if I would ever fully recover. But what if he's telling the truth.  
  
What should I do? 


	14. AN

For those of you who are waiting for the next chapter of this story, it will be coming soon.  
  
Life just got complicated for a while.  
  
It should be up in a week.  
  
Thanks for the support. It means a lot.  
  
Alexi Maree. 


	15. The Talk

Disclaimer: I don't own them.  
  
A/N: See I've finally updated. I hope you all like. This is the second last chapter.  
  
*************************  
  
I thought about it for a couple of days but I couldn't come to a decision about what to do. I don't think I cried as much in my life as I have done lately. It didn't help that every time we were in a room together I could feel him watching me. He even tried to talk to me a couple of times but I just walked away from him. So he stopped trying and ignored me instead. After a couple of weeks I even managed to stop thinking of him constantly and naively thought that it meant that I was getting over him, that what I felt wasn't love, just lust.  
  
This of course only lasted until I came across him sitting talking to Tallah in the gardens this morning. They looked very cosy. This is all it took to set me off. I started running, not caring where I was heading, not that I could see anyway because I'd started bawling. As luck would have it, it was in this current state that I ran into, literally, wait for it, Snape. I was down in the dungeons.  
  
"Miss Weasley, watch where you're going next time. 10 points from Gryffindor" he glowered at me.  
  
"Sorry Professor," I hiccupped tears running down my face.  
  
"I know I'm going to regret this," I heard him whisper to himself, "What are you blubbering about Weasley?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing Professor." Like I was going to tell him what I was crying about.  
  
"And to think I always thought you were better than the rest of the females in this school that start crying at a moments notice. Apparently I was wrong."  
  
What did he mean by that, was he comparing me to the snivelling witches that cry over a broken nails. That got to me and I was about to tell him off when I heard voices coming down the hallway, HIS voice. I must have started to look panicky because he did something I never thought he would do. He helped me.  
  
"I suggest Weasley, that if you do not wish to see him that you should probably get into my office now," he said gesturing to the door behind me.  
  
Without thinking that's exactly what I did. It wasn't until I was in there that I began to wonder why he helped me. I heard voices outside but I couldn't hear what was being said, but when he walked in a couple of minutes later he was alone. He walked to his desk and sat down, clasped his hands together on the desk and looked at me. By this time I'd managed to stop crying.  
  
"Not that I particularly care, but what did he do to make you cry this time?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.  
  
" What makes you think it was him that made me cry?" I asked back warily.  
  
" Miss Weasley, I have been a teacher here for twenty years, I've seen many pathetic girls bawl over boys, it's not a new scenario."  
  
Snape had just called me pathetic, and I couldn't get up enough anger to retort to it, because I was. I used to make fun of the girls in my dorm when they started crying when the boys they liked started up with someone else. I mean it wasn't as if they had been dumped or anything. Now I was doing it. Whether or not given time we may have become a couple, we weren't and this extreme reaction I've been having was pathetic. I needed to talk to him once and for all or just get over him.  
  
This conclusion took me a couple of minutes to come to and Snape was still looking at me silently. Then he began to speak.  
  
"I don't know what he did Miss Weasley, and knowing him I'm sure you actually do have a reason to be upset with him, but your making yourself and him miserable not talking to each other about it."  
  
" He doesn't seem too miserable to me," I said thinking back to him and Tallah in the garden.  
  
"He's a Malfoy, he's been taught not to show his feelings to outsiders. Feelings are classed as a weakness," Snape snapped back, "Now I have work to do so get out." He finished and turned his back on me. So I left.  
  
I went to the prefect bathrooms to wash away the traces of my tears before the prefect meeting after lunch. But before that I wanted to talk to Hermione. That's what girlfriends are for. I found her with Ron of course, you can barely ever find one without the other since they FINALLY got together. Did either of them thank me, no, but that may have more to do with the fact that they have been tip toeing around me since you know what. While I'm really happy to see them together, seeing them suck face is not really an appealing sight. So I managed to drag Hermione away from Ron to talk to her.  
  
"I've just had the most peculiar morning," I told her explaining about the morning's events with Draco and Snape and that I had decided to talk to Draco, "But how should I approach him Mione?"  
  
"Are you sure about this Ginny?"  
  
"Yes, I'm sure, I can't stay in limbo like this any longer."  
  
"Well, the money you raised with the Slave for a day needs to be distributed, I was going to have some other prefects do it but if you want to talk to Malfoy I could assign it to you both," she said. It was a good idea.  
  
" Thanks Mione," I said hugging her, "Just don't tell Ron about it, I really don't want to hear his opinion at the moment. Or possibly ever."  
  
So it was all set. We went to the prefects meetings where Hermione announced the assignment. Draco just sat there stunned. I don't think he thought Hermione would ever pair us up again. After the prefect meeting broke up I stayed where I was and so did Draco while we waited for the room to empty.  
  
"When do you want to meet to do this?" he asked me after a couple minutes of silence.  
  
" Unless you have something else planned we can do it now, but we need to go somewhere more private," I said hoping he'd get the message. He did.  
  
"Do you have anywhere in mind?"  
  
"Yes actually I do. Come with me." I said as I started out of the room, making for the Room of Requirement. I couldn't help wondering what the room would appear as when we walked in. I needn't have worried, it looked just like a plain living room in a house.  
  
"What is this place?" he asked looking around.  
  
"The Room of Requirement, it changes depending of what the rooms' occupants are after, in our case a comfortable place to talk," I answered him.  
  
I walked to one of the lounges and sat down, tucking my feet up and got comfortable. Draco decided to sit next to me though he didn't look anywhere near as comfortable. I sat there waiting, he was the one who had to explain to me and I wasn't going to start first.  
  
"What made you decide to talk to me, I didn't think you would," was the first thing he asked.  
  
"I decided I disliked myself for what I was doing to myself and decided this was the best option," I answered back. A few minutes passed when I decided I didn't want to sit back and wait for him to speak so I spoke first.  
  
"Do you like me Draco, because to tell you the truth I can't really tell since you're so hot and cold all the time?" It was the first thing I needed to know because if the answer was no there was no use continuing.  
  
"Yes Ginny, I do and that's the problem, it's always been the problem."  
  
"How is it a problem, you had to know after the way we kissed that I liked you too."  
  
"Ginny," he started then paused, "for you this is a new feeling, for me it's not, I've been wanting you for a good two years now." I was about to say something resembling 'what' when he continued.  
  
"You can't believe how it was for me when I realised that every time I entered the Great Hall I scanned it for you and if you weren't there I'd wonder where you were. And if you were there I'd notice everything about you, your hair, your smile, your eyes until I caught myself doing it and got angry with myself for it. You were a Gryffindor AND a Weasley for god's sake, I couldn't understand what I was thinking. Then you'd go and hug Potter and I'd get so furious that I'd have to leave the hall or try to hex him. I told myself that I'd get over it, it was just hormones and you're a pretty girl even if you are a Weasley. Then everything changed one day. I bumped into you in a corridor and became angry when just the smell of you was enough to turn me on. I became really nasty and I said some things to you like that there wasn't much difference between Voldemort and Dumbledore, they both did whatever necessary to get ahead but what you said in response stayed with me later that night and made all the difference." Draco paused.  
  
"What did I say," I prompted wanting to hear the rest of this.  
  
"You said there was a very big difference, Dumbledore would always give you the choice of making your own decisions, to choose what you wanted or didn't want to do, Voldemort just had puppets that he pulled the strings for, if you didn't do what he wanted you were dead. Later that day Lucius decided it was time for me to meet Voldemort. I went to that meeting and what I saw went against everything I had believed in. I had been taught from birth that Malfoy's were the best and should answer to no one but themselves, yet I watched my father get to his knees and kiss the feet of this animal like creature. Saw him receive the torture curse because Voldemort felt like it. I realised that the promises of power that Voldemort had used to get the Death Eaters to his side were empty promises because this creature was never going to share his power. They were just to stupid to see it. But I wasn't. When I got back that night I remembered your words about Dumbledore and decided to trust your judgement of him. I went and talked to him and things got better. I kept up appearance so my loyalties were never questioned, more information can be gleaned like that. Through all this I still watched you, wishing that you would throw one of your smiles my way. You never did." He ran out of words then and I sat stunned.  
  
"Well maybe if you had ever been nice to me I might have smiled at you, you never were." I couldn't think of anything else to say.  
  
"When I saw that Death Eater point his wand at you I swear my heart stopped beating, I had never felt so scared in my entire life, I just reacted," he bought up out of the blue.  
  
"If you liked me that much, why, when we were finally starting to get it together, did you kiss Tallah, Draco? It doesn't make sense." This was the final hurdle. I had to hear his explanation. He looked at me for a minute before he started.  
  
"Did you know that Tallah likes Harry?" he asked me.  
  
"Yeah, I figured that out, so what?"  
  
"Tallah figured out last year how I felt about you and she told me she liked Harry. We commiserated together because we both believed you two were a couple. What you saw in the classroom was us turning to one another for comfort in a way. I know it sounds funny and unbelievable but until Snape told me later that you were looking for me, I believed that whatever was between us was over once Ron found us, and Tallah had a run in with Potter. We were talking about how much easier it would have been if we could have liked one another instead of Gryffindors. We understand each other so much better. Then we decided to test that theory. It didn't work since it felt like what I think kissing a sister would be like. There was nothing there. All we are is best friends."  
  
You know what, I believed him. He just sat there looking at his hands in his lap, looking more nervous then I'd expected to ever see him. He looked so adorable and I forgave him. But I wasn't letting him off that easily. I stood up from the couch and walked to the window.  
  
"My brothers tend to express their views on my life very loudly and sometimes even with fists. It doesn't mean I listen to them the majority of the time. But you have to understand I'm their little sister, they'll do everything in their power to protect me," I turned to him then wanting to see his expression when I said the next part, "so you have a big job ahead of you, making them believe you're good enough for me," I finished smiling. He stood up and smiled back.  
  
"I'm a Malfoy, I don't have to prove anything," he answered back cockily while walking over to me and grabbing my hand.  
  
"Oh 'cause that name is going to bring happiness and gladness into their hearts, did you forget that our families have been warring for a couple hundred years."  
  
"At the moment I don't care, all I want is to kiss you," he whispered in my ear.  
  
"What are you waiting for then?" So he did.  
  
We stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, kissing and talking and more kissing until it was curfew. We're going to tell the brothers tomorrow about us. That should be interesting. 


	16. The Beginning

Chapter 13  
  
AN: The final chapter for all of you who have been waiting patiently for me to get off my lazy ass and write it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, the positive comments made me want to continue writing this story. Hope you all enjoy.  
  
*********************  
  
Sometimes I really amaze myself. You may be wondering why I say this, easy, I managed to turn a potentially violent situation with my brothers and my new boyfriend into a gathering where shockingly enough, no blows were traded. This is amazing, given the brothers over protectiveness and Ron's massive temper where Draco is concerned. But I'll explain about my brilliant idea later. My worry about the upcoming confrontation was made worse by the fact that the twins chose that particular day to visit. Five out of seven brothers instead of just three. Don't I just have the most magnificent luck? You should have seen Draco's face when I told him about the change. I really don't think he means to make me laugh as much as I do.  
  
It had been decided, before my brilliant plan came to mind, that for safety sakes I would talk to them first then go and get him, that way he might actually have a chance of not getting a couple of fists to the face. Time would allow me to calm them down. Draco tried to convince me that he didn't care how they reacted; he just wanted to be there to see their faces when I introduced him as my boyfriend. While that may have given him his entertainment for the day, I told him I liked his face the way it was and not black and blue. He was vain enough to agree with me.  
  
So I put that plan into action that morning at breakfast. As soon as I entered the Great Hall my eyes automatically scanned the Slytherin table for Draco. When I found him, he was already looking at me. I couldn't help smiling at him before I turned away to my table. I went and sat with the trio and told them to meet me in the Room of Requirement at lunch. They agreed but only after Ron complained about missing lunch. Hermione looked at me with a questioning look on her face. I nodded my head slightly to answer her silent question. She smiled back and I knew she was happy for me.  
  
Later that morning I went to find Charlie to tell him about the meeting. I knocked on his door.  
  
"Charlie, you in there?" I yelled through the door. I know he's a teacher and all, but I refuse to treat him like one.  
  
"Hey Gin," he said opening the door. "The twins are visiting."  
  
"Oh great," I whispered under my breath, but I think he heard me because he began smiling.  
  
" Look, it's Gin-Gin, just in time to try our new toffee."  
  
" There's not a chance in hell I'm eating that Fred, so give it up," I told him, while glaring enough so he'd know I'm serious. "What are you two doing here anyway?"  
  
"To see our loving and caring baby sister of course," crooned George. I wasn't about to fall for this.  
  
" Whatever you want the answer is NO, I refuse to be a test subject, go con Ron or Harry."  
  
They were about to start again when Charlie interrupted, "Why did you come visiting Ginny." Thank you Charlie, my new favourite brother. I didn't feel like getting into it with the twins.  
  
"I wanted to get the family together at lunch, I have an announcement to make."  
  
"Ooh, an announcement, we'll be there," the twins announced in unison.  
  
"What could it be my dear Fred, could our baby sister finally have decided that she is above blackmail and will give up her stash of damning evidence against us?" George begins with a gleam in his eye.  
  
"Bad luck George, there's not a chance. Those pictures will keep me in sugar quills and butterbeer for the rest of your lives," I retorted back before reminding them that I hadn't received this months supply yet.  
  
"We taught her well George," Fred said wiping away an imaginary tear, "I couldn't have done better myself."  
  
" Where's the meeting?" Charlie asked interrupting us again.  
  
"In the Room of Requirement at twelve," I answered him before turning and leaving the twins to congratulate themselves on my training.  
  
As I was leaving Charlie's room and heading toward the library to do some homework, I was grabbed from behind and dragged into a classroom. I started to panic, but all of a sudden the training I learnt during the war came to me, so I reacted by bringing my heel down hard on the attackers foot.  
  
As soon as I heard the yelp of pain, I knew I had made a mistake.  
  
"Oh shit. Draco, are you okay?"  
  
"What in the bloody hell did you do that for?" he yelled at me.  
  
"I didn't realise it was you, I just reacted. I'm sorry, really," I told him. And I was, but watching him hop around swearing was so out of character for Draco Malfoy, I just had to laugh.  
  
"It's not funny. I think you broke something." He continued to complain while shooting me irritated glances.  
  
"Oh poor baby, but you should have known better. I was taught to react when someone grabs me," I said becoming serious, "Those were the consequences of the war."  
  
His complaining stopped when I said that, he was probably remembering as I was, the day I was grabbed by Death Eaters in Hogsmeade. If it hadn't been for Ron and Hermione stopping them, well I don't like thinking about that so on with the story.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't think, he said while coming over to wrap his arms around me. "I went to visit you in the hospital wing that night while you were sleeping. I sat with you for hours."  
  
" How did you get past Pomphrey," I asked him while cuddling up to him.  
  
" Potter wasn't the only one with an invisibility cloak," he answered. I laughed.  
  
"You couldn't let him have something you didn't, could you?" I asked him with amusement just before I reached up to kiss him. He broke the kiss before it had barely begun.  
  
" He had you and there wasn't anything I could do about that," he whispered as the kiss broke.  
  
" But Harry and I were never like that," I reminded him.  
  
" I didn't know that until you told me a couple of weeks ago. I used to get so angry thinking that he could touch you, stroke you, kiss you whenever he wanted," he whispered into my ear as he proceeded to do exactly those things to me. At this stage I was like putty in his hands. I couldn't believe that those simple caresses could make me feel like that.  
  
"The first ray of hope I had was when you told me you thought of Potter as your brother. Then when you kissed me back after the food fight I believed for the first time that you could be mine."  
  
"I am yours now," I whispered to him as I began nibbling on his neck.  
  
An hour or so later and in a much better mood, I headed to the tower to get ready to confront the brothers. When I got there Hermione was waiting. She's happy I've found someone but she's a bit wary of who he is, but she promised to keep Ron in line. This is when my brilliant plan began to form. I realised that the Weasley men do not like to upset their women. If I could get their women at the meeting and on my side, the brothers won't be able to go overboard. With this in mind I went straight to Padma and explained the situation to her and she agreed to come. Angelina and Katie were unavailable, but there was still one more person I could ask.  
  
I found her at the library. I went and slid into the seat across from her and waited for her to notice me. She finally looked up but didn't say anything so I spoke up.  
  
"I need your help."  
  
"With what?" she asked back warily.  
  
" I plan to tell my brothers today about Draco and you know my brothers, they're going to react," I explained to her.  
  
" What's that got to do with me?" She questions me so I explain my theory about Weasleys and their women.  
  
" And I ask again, what has that got to do with me," Tallah says.  
  
"I want you to be there to keep control of Harry," I say. She starts laughing.  
  
"I don't know what Draco has told you, but there is nothing between Potter and I, so I don't see how my view will influence him in any way."  
  
So I began hoping that Harry will forgive me.  
  
"You forget, I know my brothers, Harry would never have kissed you if he didn't like you, no matter how much you provoked him."  
  
She sat in silence for a couple of minutes.  
  
" You're sure?" she asked me.  
  
"I'm sure," I answered her. She agreed to help.  
  
It was twelve on the dot when I walked into the Room of Requirement. Shockingly enough everyone was there on time. My brothers asked what Padma and Tallah were doing there but all I told them was that I invited them.  
  
"Why are we all here Ginny," Harry began.  
  
"I have an announcement to make and I wanted you all together and out of the public eye when I make it," I started.  
  
"We're not going to like this announcement, are we Ginny?" Charlie asked, catching on to what I was trying to say.  
  
"Probably not. But I will state this now, I DO NOT care what you think, it is MY choice and will always be MY choice," I say while staring straight at Ron. Not waiting to be interrupted I continue, "Draco Malfoy and I have decided to become a couple," I stated clearly to the room.  
  
The girls did exactly what I asked them, they calmed the boys down, Fred and George excluded. Tallah decided to use the moment to make her move on Harry. This lip lock lasted much longer than the last. It also thankfully took the attention of the others in the room away from me. Draco walked in at that moment having decided that I wasn't going to do this alone. It took the occupants of the room a couple of minutes to realise Draco was there.  
  
"Having fun there Tal," he asked just as she finished snogging Harry.  
  
"Bite me Malfoy. Have we finished here Ginny, cause Potter and I have an elsewhere to be," Tallah inquired.  
  
"Go ahead," I told her. So she grabbed a dazed Harry's arm and led him out of the room. One down, only four to go.  
  
" Ginny, may I speak with you outside privately," Charlie asked me. I was wary about leaving Draco in the room with the other three but he nodded to me to go.  
  
"Do you love him Gin?"  
  
"Yes Charlie, I do," I answered him truthfully.  
  
"While I believe you could do so much better, if you love him, I'll wish you all the best."  
  
" Thank you," I said as I hugged him.  
  
" Just a thought," Charlie inquires as he walks away, "Does he realise if he breaks your heart we will make sure his life won't be worth living." With that closing statement I walked back into the room with a smile on my face because I know what he said was very true.  
  
I don't know what I expected to see when I got in there, but it wasn't Draco and my brothers shaking hands. I don't know what Draco said to them or what they said in return, since neither party will say, but a shaky truce was declared that day and a week on its still in place. Fred and George haven't pulled a prank and there have been no fights between Draco and the trio, physical or verbal. Lets hope it lasts. It would make a much more pleasurable year for me if my boyfriend and my family got along. 


End file.
